1Aturnleft

I must have missed that scandal article first time round. Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. Definitely time to start showing BA who's wears the trousers in Ghana I say!

BAeuro

In my opinion, BA have done nothing wrong. They have used ‘old’ frames on many routes over the years, it’s just what the market dictates and what aircraft is necessary. BA are a business and unless Ghana is giving a subsidy/PSO, I don’t see why they should tell BA what planes/terminal/airport to operate from.

The decision to switch the route to LGW may be unfortunate but that’s BA’s decision. ISB and DOH are also moving to LGW and they aren’t kicking up a fuss. There are so many routes which only have a LGW connection (KIN, ANU etc) - that is just the way it is. It’s not racism or discrimination just business.

Also, by switching to LGW the route will benefit from BA’s new refurbished 777s. They’re much better than the 747s which used to run the route.

The thing is, if BA pull the route I’m sure Virgin will take it up or the government will subsidise them to operate it. So BA doesn’t have all the power.

1Aturnleft

The funny thing is BA inherited the route from B-Cal who in turn were awarded the route back in the 60's when doing business as British United. Accra was always a Gatwick route for 30+ years until BA moved it to LHR in the early 2000's. It's just Ghana political stamping.

There can't be much cargo or connecting traffic on the route otherwise it would have stayed at LHR. And the 18% business traffic figure cited will mean yields from a predominantly VFR nature as being relatively low in comparison to a typical LHR flight break even. Which I guess is why the route has been moved back to Gatwick with its lower cost base to make it cost effective.

I doubt VS could turn a profit on it at LHR given BA can't. ACC already benefits from direct DL service to JFK so theres not even a connecting Atlantic traffic market for VS to secure - their major shareholder already has the direct monopoly. The only business is low yielding VFR traffic and a small business market. It would hardly seem worth VS's while unless there was a significant cargo uplift to warrant the effort and an air frame to serve it.

SHT88T

Accra is currently an A350 route from Heathrow. Changing it to a LGW not only means Accra loses the prestige associated with a LHR link but the service is moving it back to the old product in business after ‘upgrading’ it. BA haven’t helped their own case here.

Regardless, it just seems silly to be picking a fight with BA right now. Ultimately BA will decide which London airport routes are served from, not the Ghanaian Government.

1Aturnleft

It's.only had A350 service since December. Hardly time to blink let alone get used to it.

skipness1E

BA is often the monopoly carrier and frequently where they're not, it's a cosy duopoly with another. It's not the market dictating at all, it's BA dictating to the market. They can dump the crummiest hard product on the route and still charge an eye watering fare and still come out on top whilst offering better fares on newer equipment on more competitive routes out of Hounslow Intl. It's a lack of robust competition which allows BA to do this.

There's no discernible logic to what's going on here that I can see, the laser like focus on high end leisure which made LGW long haul a money maker after years of ongoing losses seems to have been abandoned in favour of the old strategy of routes churning between LHR<->LGW. Having Doha at LGW just makes no sense to me other than slot sitting at LGW. I think it will be summer 2022 at the earliest before we see what any post COVID strategy will be.

BAeuro

I would disagree with this. Although yes BA does have a monopoly on many routes, that isn’t their fault or their decision. There is nothing stopping an airline launching a London to Accra service to compete with BA. If no other airline launches the route, that shows its a rather marginal route. Why would BA send old 777s to the Middle East when they’re competing with Emirates/Qatar/Ethiad? It would kill them. However, for Accra there’s no competition so there’s no motive to offer the latest product. That’s just business, not discrimination. It also comes down to aircraft configuration too. Accra needs a large WT cabin, hence the Mid J 747s and tatty 777s. There are many monopoly routes which BA serve with new aircraft (Santiago/New Orleans/Bermuda).

The Ghanaian government need to look at the world, the aviation industry and the numerous cities BA have dropped and say ‘We are lucky to still have a direct service to London’.

Bohinjska Bistrica

Moving BA to an airport away from Accra seems like an open invitation for BA to can the route, in which case everyone loses. What a strange threat to make.

This is a very odd thing for a national government to get all bent out of shape by.

BAeuro

Exactly.

More to the point, BA are moving from one London airport to another. If the Ghanaian government make BA fly into another airport, it won’t even be near the capital of Accra, it will be a small airport in the middle of Ghana. This would be akin to the UK government moving an airline from LHR to Newcastle!

If I were BA I would say see you later and move the aircraft to a city which appreciates the presence of the airline.

SpeedbirdLHR

VS tried ACC around 2010. I can't recall if BA was daily to ACC at this time but at some stage, BA went from a few times a week on a B767 to a few times a week on a B777. The flight eventually went to daily, I believe first on a B777 before moving to the B747. As has been stated, the choice of aircraft is largely driven by the World Traveller capacity. For this reason, the A350 is currently operating, but as LGW 777s provides the right balance, therefore the proposed move of this service. Similarly, the ISB service is has a large World Traveller demand and as a result some LGW 777s moved to LHR to operate this service (and sometimes others such as HYD).

lcylocal

Pure speculation but is Doha as a result of needing to maintain something from London to Doha to meet the terms of the Joint Business Agreement with QR?

Bear96

LOL. Or maybe SMH.

This has the priority attention of the top of the GH government?

What percentage of the total GH population really cares (or is even aware of) which London airport BA flies to?

I live in TPA. We only have (or really, had, pre-Covid) LGW service too. Should I be offended as well? I will let Mayor Castor know that we should start an international incident.

GSTBD

This might be the case, but I gather LGW-DOH is targeted at bucket and spade and VFR travellers connecting onto Qatar airways flights to non-BA holiday/VFR destinations east and south e.g. BKK, KUL, HKT, Australia etc. The airport move of this route, much like ISB and ACC, is following the metal (economy-heavy LGW 777s). In the same vein premium heavy routes such as BGI, BDA, MLE have moved the other way to LHR as the 777s there have more premium-heavy layouts.

ISTFlyer

For the Accra discussion, I think that BA has decided to switch that route to LGW for the following reasons:

- There is no slot waiver yet that has been announced for S21. BA/IAG needs to use LGW slots if they don't like to lose them. Wizzair is seeking LGW slots at this point so there is demand for LGW.
- As mentioned above, Accra is a high-capacity Y route rather than a business-heavy one. Since the 747's are gone, high-density LGW 777's are the best fit.
- Most likely, the passengers that are traveling on this route are people who originate/terminate their journey in the UK ( similar to ISB ). LHR slots would be most likely used for business heavy routes and routes that have a high portion of international-international connecting passengers if both airports have slot usage requirements like 40-50%

Depending on the slot usage requirements, we could see more routes going into this direction.

Confus

Not that it justifies anyone getting in a tizzy, but worth pointing out that the difference here is that the US and UK have open skies agreements, but UK<>GH is still subject to a highly restrictive ASA. I don’t know the details of this particular one, but these do typically allow for restriction on airport used.